Research Summary

We are using experimental and computational methods to study ring-opening reactions of arylcyclopropanes that are promoted by strong acids or other electrophilic catalysts. Although cyclopropane rings are strained, they are present in many important compounds found in nature and are often intermediates in organic synthesis schemes. Students in my research group have shown that the ring-opening of one such compound, 1-phenylbicyclo[3.1.0[hexane proceeds by different pathways in the ground and excited states. We are currently using GC-MS to confirm the identity of the products of these reactions. These projects involve organic synthesis and purification using advanced laboratory methods, FTIR, NMR, and UV spectroscopy, GC-MS, and computational chemistry. In complementary work, we are using computational chemistry to study the mechanisms of these reactions in both the ground and excited states.

We are also interested in using ab initio methods to explore the molecular geometry and electronic charge distribution in organic molecules and their relationship to experimentally determined parameters like NMR coupling constants, and we are also using computational methods to study structural relationships and molecular dynamics in proteins.